be getting tougher for gop challenger mitt romney. first to iowa.presidentobamais49% to mitt romney's 5%. >>> and from the columbia dispatch--this has surrogates from both parties sangled today over who's better equipped to guide the economy over the next four years. >> the president hay has created 4 million new manufacturing jobs. he says he's going to reduce the debt. doesn't say how' goegsing to do it. let's be fair here, governor romney has laid out a vision and a direction for this country. let's hold the president to the same standard as well. >> first of all, we have a deficit plan, it's got health care savings. romney doesn't have a deficit plan. he's got a plan to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires. he's got a 5 trilli$5 trillion. -- another $2 trillion in defense spending. >> just three days into the first presidential debate, meanwhile mitt romney is off to the trail. we have two reports, we begin with nbc's peter alexander, he's with the romney campaign in boston, with a good morning to you, peter. what are you hearing about all the debate preps today. he o'clock n

." david, in 2008candidateobamatalkedabout this war as the war we must win. this time around he notedly talks about winding down the war. mitt romney didn't even mention it in his convention speech. why does this not seem to be a major interest in a campaign? >> the stakes are so high, lester, as you know being on the ground there. i think there's a couple of reasons. from the republican point of view, they want distance from the bush presidency, particularly the bush foreign policy of engagement in war in afghanistan and iraq. from the president's point of view, he wanted to narrow the focus, talk about al qaeda, defeat al qaeda. the crowning achievement killing osama bin laden. the nation building work in afghanistan is frankly something that became too difficult, too entrenched for the american people to keep up with. we are there longer than the soviets were there. i think there's a recognition that job was simply too difficult, the notion that we were going to turn around the government, really be able to rebuild the country. there is a phrase that general petraeus used, was iraq g

of "meet the press." david in 2008candidateobamatalkedabout this war as the war we must win. this time around he notedly talks about winding down the war. mitt romney didn't even mention it in his convention speech. why does this not seem to be a major interest in a campaign? >> the stakes are so high, lester, as you know being on the ground there. i think there's a couple of reasons. from the republican point of view, they want distance from the bush presidency, particularly the bush foreign policy of engagement in war in afghanistan and iraq. from the president's point of view, he wanted to narrow the focus, talk about al qaeda, defeat al qaeda. the crowning achievement killing osama bin laden. the nation building work in afghanistan is frankly something that became too difficult, too entrenched for the american people to keep up with. we are there longer than the soviets were there. i think there's a recognition that that job was simply too difficult, the notion that we were going to turn around the government, really be able to rebuild the country. there is a phrase that general pe

away from the first presidential debate.presidentobamawillhead from washington to nevada. he has a campaign stop at a las vegas high school. he is going to stay in nevada before traveling to denver on wednesday. republican challenger mitt romney is spending the weekend cramming for the debate. political analysts say he needs a strong showing with recent polls showing him losing ground to the president in battleground states. >>> the university of denver is preparing to host that debate. it is going to focus on domestic policy and it will be mod rated by jim lehrer. two more presidential debates will be held on the 16th and 22. you can of course watch those debates live here on ktvu channel 2. coverage begins at 6:00. >>> while the election is on tuesday, november 6, some voters have already cast their ballots. 32 states and the district of columbia offer some form of early voting. iowa began last week. ohio starts tuesday. volunteers from the obama and romney camps are canvassing neighborhoods looking for early votes and it's an important strategy because it allows those parties